Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 1872.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1415, 30 August 1872, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 1872.

The Bishop of Peterborough, Dr. Magee, in the late debate on the Permissive Bill in the Hou«e of Lord*, gave expression to a sententious opinion, which has been since quoted in all quarters by the opponents of the measure. Like most party cries, it involves a material fallacy, which would appear distinctly if the terms were subjected to a definition. The Alliance New*, in its next issue, published the Bishop's statement side by side with an extract from Thomas Oarlyle, the Chelsea philosopher, which formed an appropriate commentary on the Bishop's dictum. lu Mr Fox's late speech in the House of Representatives, on the second reading of the Permissive Bill, he quoted the two passages with great effect. We publish them both below : —l. Bishop Magee : «He had an abhorrence of (he Permissive Bill; but to put his view of it in the strongest light, he would say that were he given the choice—and that same choice would be presented in the case of the Permissive Bill—whether it would he bettor for England to be free or to he sober, strange as the assertion might appear to be when made by one of hi* own profession, he deolaied he would rather she was tree than that she were sober. Honestly, he should say, he would prefer freedom to sobriety, because with freedom they might obtain sobriety, but they might also have sobriety without freedom." 2. Thomas Carlyle; (l No man oppresses thee, O free "and independent franchiser! but does not this stupid pewter pot oppress thee? No son of Adam can bid thee come or go, but this absurd pot of bea\y-wet can and does 1 Thou art the thrall not of Cedric the Saxon, but of thy own brutal appetites, and this accursed dish of liquor. And thou pratest of thy > liberty,' thou entire blockhead!"

Tn the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning, there was no business of importance.

In the House of Representatives on the 21st in«»t., Mr Reynolds gave notice that when the Electoral Bill, the Provincial Elections Bill, and the Regulation oi Elections Bill came on for second reading, he would move that they be re modelled, so a* to provide for manhood suffrage, with a twelve months' residence.

The Evening Po*t states that "no shares in the South British Fire and Marine Insurance Company were applied for in Napier." The second reading of the Permissivo Bill in the Victorian Legislative Assembly, on the 6th hist., was passed by a majority of 17, the numbers being—for the second reading, 37 ; against it, 20. The Australasian of the 10th instant i« painfully exercised in mind at this result. The editor's indignation is too deep for logic. Therefore, writing of the debate, he says : " The talk that was used by the advocates of the bill could not be dignified by the name of argument at all A large number of the members who voted with the majority were personally hostile to the bill, but did not dare to avow their hostility on account of the influence which the teetotallers could bring to bear on their next election The sup-

poi ters of the measure .... ate influenced by no higher motive than that of making their next election secure. . . . Individual liberty is simply saciificed to comply with the wishes of an active and fanatical minority outside Pai liament." The truth is evident: the majority outside Parliament is far greater than that, within its walls. Members do not usually court a "minority outside Parliament " with the object of "making their next election secure." Notice is given that an examination of engineers under the Merchant Ships Officers Examination Act, 1870, will be held at Auckland on or .about the sth September next. Candidates for examination can obtain further particulars by applying to the Collector of Customs at that port. In the Legislative Council, on Thursday, August 15, the Hon. Col. Whitmore, in asking the honorable member representing the Government, Whether the Government have it in contempla tion to take any steps, and what, to improve the steam postal communication between Wellington and the port of Napier?—said that the inhabitants of the part of the country to which that question referred, were exceedingly anxious to know if some improvement could be afforded to them ou the existing steam postal communication between Wellington and Napier.—The Hon. Mr Hall said that the existing communication between the ports in question was maintained by the American steamers, which were bound to call at Napier when the weather would permit. Napier had the same nominally at any rate, as any other part of the Colony. There was no other poi t that had more than a monthly steam communication subsidised by the Government for the purpose of receiving and distributing the English mails. Of course, the commuuication with Napier was not of so satisfactory a nature as if the steamers were absolutely bound to call there. The matter had been under the consideration of the Government, and they would be very glad if they could see their way to some more satisfactory arrangement than the present; but he was not able to give any more definite assurance than that. The follo-ving rather cool proposal was made by Karaitiana in the House on the 13th August. We quote from the authorised report:—He thought all the laws passed by the House during this year should be translated, so that the Maoris could have the laws in their own language. Whether they referred to Europeans or not, let them them be all translated, so that the Maoris might see what laws had been passed during the present Parliament—so that they would not have to draw atteuiion to the Jaws at the end of the next Parliament, and have this answer put before them,—-"Oh, it was done last year." He therefore asked that all the Acts passed by the House should be translated.

In the debate on the Maori Representation Bill in the House of Representatives, on the 13th August, Mr Reynolds very justly criticized the principle of the measure in the following terms: —He had always been op' posed to giving special representation to the Native population, and he must &ay that he had never seen anything to induce him to alter his mind. He believed it to be wrong in principle, and also injurious. His opinion was that the Government and the House should offer every facility to clear the way by which the native population would place themselves on the electoral rolls : that they should vote without any special representation, and vote exactly in the same way as the European population. As representing a portion of the Middle Island, he most decidedly objected to legislation by the native population, unless in the way ho had indicated.

In the House of Repi'esentatives, on the 13th inst., the Hawke's Bay Special Settlements Bill passed its second reading without debate. In introducing it, Mr Ormond merely made the following explanation :—lt was nearly the same as the Wellington Special Settlements Act of last session. The Bill proposed to deal with 20,000 acres of land under deferred payments, and 30,000 acres for special settlements, and it might he termed an experimental Bill. The only difference between it and the Wellington Bill was that the latter contained a power of appointing agents to negotiate at home for the formation of special settlements, while the present Bill contained no such clause. With this exception, the two Bills were identical.

A new and handsome chapel is about to be buiit in Wanganui for the Wes leyan congregation of that town. From the returns for the quarter ended June 25th, we learn that the Rechabite Order in Victoria has 184 tents or blanches in the various districts of the colony, the members of which number 6,483. The fun Is of the Order (most of which are invested on mortgage) amount to .£10,065 6s 3d, as set forth in the halt-yearly balance sheet which accompanies the report. Ic is probably not known to most of those who hold an unreasoning prejudice against the Order that membership entitles a person to benefits dispensed on a more liberal scale than is the case in other benefit societies, a condition which the low rate of sickness and mortality amongst members enables the society to fulfil. It is the intention of Mr Thornton, Provincial Engineer of Canterbury, to bore on the site of the anchorage ground at Timaru, with the view, if there be a sufficient depth of clay, to put down sciew moorings. A Permissive Bill having been introduced into the South Australian Legislative Assembly, the second reading was moved on the 14th inst. The debate was still proceeding at latest dates.

The following telegram from Wanganui, dated August 21, appears in the Evening Post: —Yesterday the Pari haka and Opunake natives quarrelled. The Parihaka natives burned an Opunake village called Te Namu. Native* on the coast unsettled.

A second telegraph wire is to be constructed between Auckland and the Thames.

Smallpox has entirely disappeared from Melbourne. A farmer's wife writes :—" Of all the products of the farm, butter is the most liable to be tainted by noxious odors floating in the atmosphere. Our people laid some veal in the cellar, from which a Utile blood flowed out, and it was neglected until it began smelling offensive. The result was, that a jar of butter which I was then packing smelled and tasted like spoiled beef.'' Another lady reader remarks that there was a pond of filthy stagnant water a few hundred feet from the house, from which an offensive effluvium would be borne on the breeze direcily to the milk room, when the wind was in a certain direction, the result of whioh was that cream and butter would teste like the disagreeable odor coming from the pond. As soon as the pond was drained they had no wore danjaged butter.

TE KOOTI AT MOKATT. (From the Evening Post, 21st August.) Greville's agent at New Plymouth sends us the following telegram : "August 20,11 a.m. " Te Kooti, with 600 followers, is aft. north Mokau Heads. He is reported as;; building a pa at White Cliffs, and wilL march an armed force through town to attend the Paribaka meeting in Septem* her. Wai Iti stockade is strengthened.. The Luna is expected with reinforcementshourly. Chatham Island friendly natives, have spoken with Te Kooti. Nativeshave burned a surveyor's whare at Kaupokonui." As in the case of a similar message received from Wanganui, we made inquiry as to what information the Government had received upon the subject, antk learned that although our correspondent'smessage is based on facts, yet those facta have been distorted and exaggeratedMr G. S. Cooper has courteously supplied us with the substance of the report ons this matter, forwarded yesterday by Mr Parris, the Native Commissioner, which is to the following effect:—Mr Parris. yesterday morning conversed 4 with a man named Coffee, who had been to Mokaiii on the 13th iust., and who saw there Kooti and three of the Chatham Island* prisoners, whom he knew previously.. TeKooti had arrived at Mokau Heads on* the previous day, dressed in an uniform, and with a body guard of thir« teen men. Whilst there he looked abont for a site for a pa, and said that the north side of the river was the best. Coffeesaid to Mr Parris that the few natives, living at the place had. told Te Kooti that they objected to his coming among them, but they are quite helpless in the matter, as Wetere te Kerai and the otherleading men have joined a movementmade for the purpose of giving Te Kooti command. Te Kooti returned the same day (the 13th) to Kipia (Motukarama)*. where there are said to be over 500 natives assembled. Mr Parris professes bis* inability to say what the first move on. the part of the natives will be, but hethinks that Te Kooti's antecedents warrant preparations for a sudden emergency.. He also thinks that Te Kooti has not the" slightest intention of going to the Parihaka nieetiug, and although there is at present no reason for alarm, he recommends as a precautionary measure the occupation of the old post at Pukearuke,. the natural key to the northern frontier. Coffee stated that a party of natives have recently arrived at Kipia from Poverty Bay, and brought ammunition with them.. The Government have heard nothing of the burning of a whare.